Numerator

Denominator

Health Objectives and Targets

Healthy People Objective: Reduce firearm-related deaths

U.S. Target: 9.3 deaths per 100,000 population (age-adjusted)State Target: 4.7 deaths per 100,000 population (age-adjusted)

Other Objectives

'''Revised Healthy New Jersey 2020 Objective IVP-2a''': Reduce the age-adjusted death rate due to firearm-related injuries per 100,000 standard population to 4.7 in the total population, 2.4 among Whites, 15.8 among Blacks, and 1.9 among Hispanics.
'''Revised Healthy New Jersey 2020 Objective IVP-2b''': Reduce the death rate due to firearm-related injuries among males aged 15-19 years per 100,000 age- and gender-specific population to 9.5 among all racial/ethnic groups combined and 49.1 among Blacks.
'''Original Healthy New Jersey 2020 Objective IVP-2a''': Reduce the age-adjusted death rate due to firearm-related injuries per 100,000 standard population to 4.7 in the total population, 2.4 among Whites, 15.8 among Blacks, and 3.6 among Hispanics.
'''Original Healthy New Jersey 2020 Objective IVP-2b''': Reduce the death rate due to firearm-related injuries among males aged 15-19 years per 100,000 age- and gender-specific population to 13.7 among all racial/ethnic groups combined and 68.0 among Blacks.
Targets were not set for race/ethnicity, sex, and/or age groups with numbers of deaths due to firearm-related injuries too small to calculate reliable rates.

Current Outlook

How Are We Doing?

The firearm-related age-adjusted death rate in 2016 was 34% higher than in 2000. The rate among Blacks is 7 times the rate among Whites and 6 times the rate among Hispanics. County rates per 100,000 population (age-adjusted) range from a low of 2.0 in Bergen to a high of 14.2 in Essex (2012-2016).
The homicide rate among New Jersey males aged 15-19 years is about half that of the US. The rate among young Black males is more than 14 times the rate among young White and Hispanic males combined.

How Do We Compare With the U.S.?

New Jersey's age-adjusted death rate due to firearm-related injuries is about half the national rate. The rate among males aged 15-19 years old is significantly lower among New Jersey residents than for 15-19-year-old males nationwide.

Health Improvement Resources

What Is Being Done?

New Jersey already has some of the strictest firearm laws in the nation. In January, 2017, the Governor signed into law a revision of certain existing laws concerning domestic violence and firearms ([http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bills/BillView.asp?BillNumber=S2483 P.L.2016, c.91]), which enhances protections for domestic violence victims by restricting access to firearms by a person convicted of a domestic violence crime or subject to a domestic violence restraining order. For female homicide victims, more than half of homicides are committed by a current or former intimate partner, and a majority of those deaths involve a firearm.[http://www.state.nj.us/health/chs/njvdrs/ ^1^]
The Governor's Study Commission on Violence released a report of recommendations to the Governor on ways to combat all types of violence from a public health perspective in October, 2015.
The New Jersey Department of Health maintains the [http://www.state.nj.us/health/chs/njvdrs/ New Jersey Violent Death Reporting System] (NJVDRS), a CDC-funded surveillance system that tracks suicides, homicides, unintentional firearm deaths, injury deaths of undetermined intent, and deaths by legal intervention and is used to educate public health and public safety professionals in the state and inform their interventions and decision-making, with the ultimate goal of reducing the incidence of violent deaths. NJVDRS is part of the [https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/nvdrs/index.html National Violent Death Reporting System], which now funds 40 states.

The information provided above is from the Department of Health's NJSHAD web site (https://nj.gov/health/shad). The information published
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